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Summary: Informal dialogue with government delegations, members of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and children and young people during the special session follow up meeting at the UN General Assembly.
The interactive dialogue, chaired by children was an opportunity for children to discuss a number of issues and ask questions to representatives of governments and the UN. The meeting was divided into four thematic discussions: on participation, on poverty, fighting diseases and education. Each topic was introduced by a young person, followed by questions. See also: Day 1: report from day 1 of World Fit for Children follow up meeting - 11 December 1. Participation “If we are the present, why shouldn’t we be in charge of our own lives. We wish to be in charge and work with you”. Questions: Carla from Venezuela Tanzania With regards to the CRC, it is the same problem, we have passed laws but we need to do more. We need to work with civil society and children to develop partnerships. Belgium Research was done in Belgium to see whether children were heard. Children themselves said that they do not expect all their opinions to be taken into account in final decisions but that they want to be listened to. Those who argue against listening to children fear that children will have great expectations, but there is a distinction between listening to children and acting on all their wishes. Is the CRC respected? We have free education but still parents have to pay some costs, for instance those linked to extra curricular activities. Jorge from Ecuador asked how a distinction can be made between executing everything children want and adults’ interpretations of what children want and what they think is best for children? Belgium: Ombudsmen exist who really listen, and work with children. It is one way to come closer to interpretation. Topic 2: Poverty This is an important issue and we need to be clear about it. In the world, many countries are working to decrease the levels of poverty. We as boys, girls and adolescents can help you. Because we know the situation of many children, and how they are affected. In order to achieve justice and equality for every child you have to listen. The fault is not of the child, but of the life that was decided. We can help in changing the odds - governments have to know that they can count on us children. 1. How have you planned to end poverty and how can children help in this? Germany Botswana Question: to tackle poverty we should try to reach the most vulnerable, social inclusion is one tool to do this, can you share with us, other tools to tackle poverty which we can take forward? Belgium Question from Amina from Niger Yanghee Lee, Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child Moushira Khattab, Member of the CRC from Egypt Conclusion “We all want our words here to be told to everyone. We always hear yes we will do something, but we do not see action. We don’t want just words, but action. Peer education is fine, but the problem is that many children first care about eating, then help others. Maybe government should make it possible for them to eat, then they can help each other”. Topic 3: fighting diseases Children are living with the deadly infection of HIV and AIDS, they are living in exposed areas, and are already struggling with other diseases such as malaria and economic problems. One of the biggest issues is getting medicine. This affects children especially. We need serious action. Question: How much money does your country put into research for malaria? Botswana Germany Question: What are your governments doing to prevent the spreading of HIV and AIDS around the world? Belgium Botswana Yanghee Lee Tanzania Conclusion “If you want the leaders of the future, then continue fighting the diseases. If you want us to continue building a future, then help us to fight these diseases”. Topic 4. Education It is the right of every child. Quality education is a solution to all our problems, especially to end poverty and ignorance. With education, we can then take part in the development of our country and of the entire world. However for lots of reasons in practice, it fails. Examples include poverty, lack of infrastructure and materials, teachers are not well trained, there is gender inequality, negligence of secondary or university education, etc. We want to improve the quality of education. We want free education, completely: that includes primary, secondary and university education. We need better teachers, provide means of transportation so that children can get to school, must respect CRC regarding education, with no discrimination on the basis of gender, race, religion, and abilities of children. Questions: 2. How can you improve partnerships between all actors in education, including politicians, teachers, private enterprises, schools, universities, parents, etc.? Yanghee Lee Kenya Question: Countries can no longer say they don’t have resources. In 2002, it was the same issue and we told you about the need for education. Every meeting, we still talk to you about this we are not seeing progress, just speeches and speeches and speeches. What has been the improvement since 2002, what have countries done that has made progress? Belgium Kenya Further information
1. In the work of governments, how can children take part in decisions, and how can they bring ideas to resolve problems that affect them?
2. Almost all countries have ratified the CRC, however what is most important is that the CRC is respected, which is not the case in many countries, why is that?
As far as participation goes, we have a children’s council, they contribute to the discussions and it is very healthy for them. We have a national strategy for growth and we have to show what we are doing for children, for instance show in the budget what we have allocated for children. But we need to do a bit more as we do not reach rural children for instance.
We have a Belgian national commission on the rights of the child which brings together representatives from different parts of the governments but also field workers, lawyers, organisations that represent children. Children should participate in this forum we are still working on it. Otherwise we have youth parliaments as well, and town councils in Flanders, for instance, are obliged to take into account the voices of children, subsidies are dependent of this. Children are also part of the administrative and judicial procedures, for instance, solutions will always be sought first before a child is heard by a judge.
Conclusion
"We want to be part of decisions, we want to be heard by you, you are doing a lot, but we think that is not enough, we expect more. As you expect more from us".
2. Despite all plans and promises, poverty is still a fact, why is this? And how can we help you to combat extreme poverty?
There is a huge difference between poverty in Europe and extreme poverty in countries of Africa. I think to end poverty, means more is needed than signing conventions, we have to combat poverty with different instruments. What is most important is for all countries to good governance. At state and local level, we have to combat corruption, lack of transparencies, etc. The response from the European Union countries is to do more on this, spend money to ensure there is accountability of politicians.
Poverty eradication is a long process and involves a lot of money. We have many programmes to look after those in need of care. Unfortunately as a middle income country we are not getting support from anyone, and having to face problems of HIV and AIDS on our own is not an easy task. However, one of the most important issues for us is education and it takes the biggest share of the budget. We think it gives children the power to grow up independent. This also means creating meaningful participation for children, not just listening to them talk, but taking on board their opinions on all issues that concern them. I have seen a lot of tokenism.
Social inclusion is the only tool, but it has many aspects. For instance it could relate to the issue children seeking asylum alone. For the past few years the government has established a system a tutorship; adults are being made tutors of such a child\in order to help with the child’s needs, such as enrolling them in school, looking for a place to live, getting good statute, etc.
Most organisations work in a way or another work to end poverty, violence, HIV and AIDS, etc. but why not unite to end poverty faster?
The Committee monitors how states are doing their job. In many parts of the world, peer rejection is also a problem. Empowerment starts with peer acceptance. Children can to try to convince other children to stay in school, it is tempting to go into labour, but children and NGOs should convince children to stay in school and convince governments to remove hidden costs related to school.
Governments don’t realise that poverty starts with children. Almost half of the population are children, but programmes don’t often target children. Poverty alleviation programmes must target children.
In Botswana, malaria is now under full control. We don’t have resources do research. We depend on countries that have the capacity to do the research.
We have a big institute for infectious diseases that undertakes a lot of research on developing medicines in Berlin which has been doing this for over 150 years
The most important thing to do is to sensitise people. Even though it is not a big problem in our country, it is not seen in the same way by everyone and there are sections of the population that are not necessarily well informed. Messages need to be passed to all communities.
The biggest weapon against the spread of HIV and AIDS is education about the disease. We start in primary schools, children are told about it. HIV and AIDS is a disease that affects everyone in Botswana. Even if you are not sick, you know someone who is. We provide free testing, knowledge is the biggest weapon.
I come from Korea [South Korea] and my government and I am sure others as well, offer development assistance to others, we target portions of this aid for specific use, including HIV and AIDS. We also join others in campaigning on a global level, work with pharmaceutical companies, provide condoms for distributions in remote areas, etc. Other governments do the same thing.
For us public awareness is very important, and educating people to understand we have problems and we need to change behaviours, that is our problem. Maybe you can help us to find solutions as well.
1. Everyone knows education is important and everyone talks about it. But why do all governments not spend a lot on education? I am happy to hear that Botswana spends a lot on education, but what about other countries?
The CRC asks governments the same questions: how much they allocate, teacher education, hidden costs, and if there are hidden costs, they should get rid of them. We also ask about whether schools are friendly for children and girls especially, whether there is sanitation, and whether teachers are well trained. We also ask how much of the budget is allocated to military spending? We also have a transparency index which we refer to when they say they don’t have money for this or that. We also emphasise on pre-primary education, early childhood education, as all research says, is the best investment for all development of the child.
I work for the ministry of finance in Kenya so I am speaking with knowledge. The social sector takes the biggest portion of our national resources, specifically the education sector. This is firstly because we now provide free education and secondly, we are moving towards providing free secondary education, in fact this factored into next year’s budget, and we have subsidies for university education, we give loans and bursaries. It is our number one priority, takes the biggest from our national resources.
Every country has the obligation to answer your question. Even though for most children in Belgium education is free, but we thought it was important to work on inclusion in 2002. For foreign students who don’t speak the language, for instance, if they are not helped, they will not be able to follow. We have worked on adaptation classes to learn the language so that they can learn quickly and not fall behind.
In 2002 we had 5.8 million children in school, today more than 8 million children are enroled in primary schools, we have two million more enrolled since it became free. The African Union also said a minimum of 25 per cent of the national budget should be allocated to education. Even adults, both men and women have joined school since it became free. We have a man of 89 years old who is now going to school. Basically we are seeing many people who missed out on education now joining. We have women who are in school with their children, we have grandmothers going to school with their grandchildren. Parents used to pay to build classrooms, buy desks and text books, now the government does that. So the 2002 resolution had positive impact in terms of resource allocation and access to education. We also asked children to bring other children to school. In one district, they would go to their neighbours and take them to school. Children can also be involved in encouraging. You also have a big role to play.